Losing at home to their closest neighbours and relegation rivals would have been bad enough, but this was a performance Bolton Wanderers supporters clearly found very hard to stomach. For long periods quite staggeringly inept, it was only when the manager, Owen Coyle, had made three substitutions that Bolton began to improve – but although they briefly drew level, it would have been an injustice had Wigan not gone on to score the winner.

Judging by the adverse reaction on Twitter, Coyle had begun badly by naming Kevin Davies alongside David Ngog up front, in a conventional 4-4-2 formation. Bolton began positively enough, but Wigan were also playing 4-4-2 and looking to get forward, and gradually the visitors took control.

Victor Moses on the left and Jean Beausejour on the right were seeing plenty of the ball and, as Coyle subsequently acknowledged, in terms of possession there was no doubt which team dominated the first period.

All that must have concerned Roberto Martínez at half-time was that they had only one goal to show for it, Gary Caldwell rising to head Beausejour's corner past Adam Bogdan just before the break.

Martínez must have been even more concerned when, shortly after the resumption, Emerson Boyce and the otherwise hugely impressive James McArthur missed excellent chances to extend Wigan's lead. Coyle made his changes, but Bolton needed a break and got one when Bogdan's long clearing kick hit Ngog on the back and the ball sat up for Mark Davies to drive a fine shot beyond Ali al-Habsi.

Now it was Bolton with the momentum, but, with 15 minutes remaining, poor defending allowed Moses to break into the penalty area. Bogdan saved his shot, but the ball rebounded for McArthur to turn it into the empty net.

"There is an extra significance for us to come here, to our nearest neighbours, and perform the way we did," a delighted Martínez said. "It's easy to play in a certain way if you're in the top six, but to pass the ball the way we did when you are in a position like ours needs real mettle. We will fight with our lives to the end to stay in the Premier League."

Coyle maintained their second-half improvement meant Bolton had been unfortunate not to take something from the game but, with away matches at Chelsea and Manchester City to follow next Saturday FA Cup tie against Millwall, it is hard to see them climbing out of the bottom three. In the circumstances it was unfortunate Wigan's supporters should have taken some of the gloss off the win by letting off smoke bombs during the game, all of which had to be extinguished by stewards.